


Take me Home

by deific



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, Protective Yaku Morisuke, Team Fluff, Team Mom Yaku Morisuke, Team as Family, Yaku Morisuke-centric, i just really like gen fics for my ace heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24994498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deific/pseuds/deific
Summary: 5 times Yaku Morisuke walks his friends home and 1 time they walk him home[really though i just wanted more nekoma-centric gen fics]
Relationships: Haiba Lev & Yaku Morisuke, Kai Nobuyuki & Yaku Morisuke, Kozume Kenma & Yaku Morisuke, Kuroo Tetsurou & Yaku Morisuke, Shibayama Yuuki & Yaku Morisuke, Yaku Morisuke & Fukunaga Shouhei, Yaku Morisuke & Nekoma Volleyball Club
Comments: 34
Kudos: 172





	1. take me home

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [kindling instincts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23814694) by [kiroiimye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiroiimye/pseuds/kiroiimye). 



**Kuroo Tetsurou and Kozume Kenma**

“Kuroo, I swear to god why are you still here?!”

Kuroo jumps at the sound and turns his head towards the gym entrance. Yaku stood at the doorway, already changed and with a pissed off expression.

“Ah, Yaku-san! Didn’t you go home with Kai-san already?”

“He told me that you were staying behind to practice,” says Yaku, walking closer, “Are you an idiot?! What time do you expect to go home?!”

Kuroo pouts, “But I wanted to practice with Kenma.”

“Kenma…?”

A small boy pokes his head out from behind Kuroo, black hair a curtain hiding his face. “Hello,” he says in a small voice.

“Hi…” 

Yaku was momentarily lost for words, before he turned to glare once again to Kuroo, “It doesn’t matter if you came here to practice with your friend! You need to take care of yourself too! You two are going home now! How the hell did you even get the captain’s permission to-”

“Geez Yaku-san calm down. We’ll go home, we’ll go home. C’mon, Kenma let’s go.”

Yaku watches the two pack up and waited for them out of the gym. The two boys looked exhausted, sweat running down their cheeks. With a sigh, he tosses them some extra towels he brought to practice. 

“Take better care of yourself, goddamnit,” Yaku shakes his head, exasperated, “are your houses close from here?”

“What’s it to you Yaku-san?”

“Well it seems that my teammate’s bullshit at self-care so I have to take care of them!”

Silence stretches for a while after that until Kuroo broke it with his hyena laugh. Yaku jumps in surprise at that while his friend, Kenma (?), looks at him with disgust.

Kuroo wipes a tear from his eye, “Alright, alright. We’re in your care okaa-san.”

Yaku kicks the back of Kuroo’s knees, “Don’t call me that! I’ll walk you two home.”

“Thanks Yaku-san.”

(They don’t talk about how Yaku took them out for ramen when Kenma’s stomach grumbled mid-way home).

**Kai Nobuyuki**

After Kai’s third miss, Yaku gave a sign for the coach to pause practice and stepped in. He pats Kai’s back.

“Kai, you’re sick. You need to rest.”

The vice-captain gives him a strained smile, “I’m fine Yaku-san, I can still play-”

“That’s bullshit,” Yaku interrupts, “Come on, let’s talk to the coach. I’ll walk you home.”

Yaku ignores Kai’s protests and, sending a stink-eye at Kuroo’s smug face, has a talk with the coaches.

“Why did you come to school when you’re sick?” asks Yaku, placing a hand on Kai’s forehead. They don’t comment on how Yaku has to tiptoe and how Kai has to bend a bit lower for that to happen. “You have a fever.”

“I felt feverish in the middle of class and after a visit to the school clinic, I felt better. Thought I could get through practice.”

Yaku clicks his tongue, “This morning you said that your parents aren’t home right?”

“Uh, yes. But what does that have to do with anything?” asks Kai, packing his things up.

“Do you have medicine at home? Some food? Our houses are a bit close,” Yaku takes Kai’s bag from his grasp firmly, “I’ll bring this.”

“Yaku-san, I can’t really expect you to take care of me right now.”

“Both you and Kuroo can’t seem to take care of yourself, so I’ll have to do it myself,” Yaku points out, “No more complaints from a sick man like you now. C’mon let’s go.”

A soft smile crept on Kai’s face, “I’m in your care, okaa-san.”

“Not you too!”

(Kai doesn’t tell anyone how Yaku tucked him to bed, cleaned up his room, and cooked some soup with the note ‘heat it up when you’re awake’ next to it).

**Fukunaga Shouhei**

When Fukunaga shows up to morning practice with a black eye, Yaku all but brings him aside to the corner of the gym, ice wrapped in thin cloth in his hand.

Yaku made sure to put a more neutral expression on his face, no point in scaring Fukunaga off. The first year was quiet, maybe even quieter than Kenma. He applies the ice to the area around the eye and Fukunaga winces in pain.

Coach Naoi taps Yaku’s back, gesturing for him to join practice and reluctantly, Yaku gives the ice pack to him.

With the black eye, Fukunaga gets to sit out of practice but his injury does affect the team’s play. Taketora more aggressive, Kai more worried and Yaku has caught some of the third years shoot a glance at the quiet boy.

By the end of school, Yaku has made it his mission to find out exactly who dared lay a hand on his kouhai. Yaku’s internal seething, unfortunately does not go unnoticed and he ignores Kuroo’s wild gesturing and entirely unsubtle mind conversation that Kai goes along with. During the break, he had taken both Kenma and Taketora aside to inquire about Fukunaga’s state. They had said that the boy was fine, though he didn’t want to tell them who his attackers were.

Still mad, Yaku plays harder in practice. Kuroo tells him to take it easy but Yaku just gives him a deadpan look. “You don’t get to tell me that.”

“Sure, sure okaa-san.”

After changing, Yaku catches up with Fukunaga, asking him if it was okay to walk him home. Yaku hated the way Fukunaga flinched when the older one patted him on the back to get his attention. Fukunaga gives him a confused look and from behind, Kuroo helpfully supplies Yaku’s habit of walking people home.

Hesitantly the first year nods and Yaku gives him an encouraging smile. The two weren’t close, true, but Yaku loves his kouhai just the same. Especially since the Manekineko-loving boy also has a passion for literary classics that Yaku can relate to.

(Fukunaga doesn’t talk about how Yaku decked the people who had jumped him that morning).

**Haiba Lev**

Haiba Lev could be said to be the bane of Yaku’s existence. The tall first-year had apparently made it his life mission, whether intentionally or not, to remind Yaku of his short stature. Not like the tin-headed titan could ever hurt Yaku’s feelings, it was annoying nevertheless.

That was why when Lev came to after-school practice looking a little forlorn and sad, Yaku knew something was wrong. The two didn’t have the best relationship, the multiple shouting matches can be testament to that, but no matter what, Lev was his kouhai. And no one made Yaku’s kouhai sad.

“Lev? Something the matter?”

“Oh- oh it’s nothing to worry about, Yaku-san!” Lev tries to give him one of his bright smiles, but really, Yaku’s just unimpressed. Still he sighs, he can’t force Lev to confide in him.

“Well, you just look kinda sad. If there’s anything bothering you, you know you can talk to me right?”

There’s a confused look on Lev’s face before it clears up, “Of course!”

Once practice ends though, Lev asks if he could talk to Yaku. Nodding, the third year waves goodbye to Kuroo and Kai before making his way to join Lev.

“What’s up?”

Lev showed him his phone, “So, you know I have a cat right?-”

Yaku didn’t.

“- her name’s Mochi. She’s very cute. Well, after class my sister texted me saying that she couldn’t find Mochi anywhere. I’m just worried if she ran away.”

Lev purses his lips in concern. Yaku frowns, as a fellow cat enthusiast, he can understand Lev’s worry.

“What breed is she? Does she have a collar?” asks Yaku.

“It’s a Russian Blue! I got it for my birthday from my uncle,” explains Lev, “she’s supposed to wear a red collar, like Nekoma!”

Yaku nods, “I’ll help you find Mochi then, I have time.”

“Really?! Thank you so much Yaku-san!”

“It’s really no big deal.”

(Lev doesn’t talk about how Yaku climbed a tree to get Mochi of the tree she was stuck on in the park).

**Shibayama Yuuki**

“Shibayama-kun! Bend your knees a little more!”

“Yes, Yaku-san!”

Yaku watches as his protégé dives to receive another one of Lev’s whiplike spikes. Nodding in approval, he takes another swig at his bottle, yells at Lev when he sloppily receives Yamamoto’s spike and gets back into practice.

Despite the smooth start of practice, Yaku feels that something’s wrong. He looks at the younger libero, Shibayama Yuuki. The boy was a good player, but Yaku knew he had long ways to go. No matter, Yaku shakes the thought away, there was still time.

As if sensing Yaku’s eyes on him, Shibayama turns around nervously. “Yaku-san…?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing Shibayama-kun, you’re doing good,” Yaku reassures him with a smile, patting the younger’s hair.

“Yaku-san! Get over here for a sec!”

“Coming!”

Before he goes though, he catches the sad look on Shibayama’s face. He frowns just a tiny bit, and then goes to Kuroo.

Once after-school practice ends, Yaku finds Shibayama still in the gym, a determined expression on his face.

“Shibayama-kun! Shouldn’t you be going home right now?” calls Yaku. Kuroo took one long look at Shibayama and Yaku before tossing the gym keys at the light brown haired boy.

“Good luck, okaa-san!”

Rolling his eyes at Kuroo as he catches the keys, Yaku strides over to the first year libero, patting him on the back.

“Though the enthusiasm is appreciated, you really should go home,” says Yaku with a worried look, “you’ve practiced a lot today.”

“But, Yaku-san! I still need to-”

“There’s still practice tomorrow,” Yaku states firmly.

“Yaku-san-”

“Shibayama-kun.”

Yaku’s tone showed no room to argue and Shibayama sighed in defeat. Yaku waited for the younger to finish packing his bag and join him by the gym entrance.

“Shibayama, wait. I’ll walk you home.”

“H-huh?”

“You haven’t heard yet?” asks Yaku, locking the gym doors, “I’m pretty sure Kuroo’s been spreading rumors about how I like to walk my kouhais home.”

“I’m not that sure…”

“C’mon, let’s go. We’ll talk about libero things along the way. Remember that libero set move Karasuno’s libero tried to do during training camp? I found an old match video of Aoba Johsai who also did it. We can try that next practice.”

“Alright!”

(Shibayama doesn’t talk about how Yaku stops halfway home to treat him to some meat buns in the nearby store while also buying extra snacks for the team’s practice tomorrow).

**+1 Yaku Morisuke**

Managing to receive a spike outside of the court with the rally ending favourable to Nekoma’s side was very cool of Morisuke, he knew. What was not cool of Morisuke though was twisting his ankle on a spectator’s foot. 

He watches as Lev’s face freezes after congratulating him. He sees the shaking, terrified figure of Shibayama. He sees the torn expression on Yamamoto’s face. And he feels like crying because this was not how it’s supposed to go.

Morisuke hears the tweet of the whistle and, grabbing hold of Yamamoto’s shoulder, bows low at the audience member in apology.

“Yaku-san, you need to sit-”

“I’m fine, Yamamoto-kun. I just need-” a shriek of pain stops him from continuing.

“Yaku-san!” and Yamamoto catches him from behind.

“You’re not fine, Yakkun,” reprimands Kuroo, “get to the bench. Shibayama’ll play libero in turn.”

“I can still play,” Morisuke snips back, taking another step forward, but the pang of pain shoots up his leg once again.

Another steady hand rests on his shoulder. Kai.

“You’re definitely not fine. We can’t lose our okaasan can we?” There’s a kind smile on his face as Kuroo moves to his other side and together with Kai hoist him up, making their way slowly to the bench. Naoi-san already has an ice pack and sweat towel at the ready by the bench.

“They'll be alright, Morisuke-kun,” reassures Naoi-san, pressing the ice pack on his ankle, “you weren’t the only one who wanted to go to Nationals.”

Morisuke winces at the cold touch of the ice on his ankle. “I’m just worried about Shibayama-”

“He’s going to need to play in a match eventually, right?” Naoi-san replies easily, “You’re graduating soon. The team will adjust accordingly, have some trust in them.” The older man pats the libero on the head, the warm smile on his face exuding confidence in their team’s ability.

Morisuke mulls over the assistant coach’s words as he watches the match continue. He sees Kuroo’s shit-eating grin, Kai’s strangely calm expression, and everyone else’s intense passion. He hears Akane leading the Nekoma cheers overhead and he grins.

“Alright.”

\---

“You know, if he sucks, just tell him. Like, to his face. Maybe even elaborate,” advises Yaku to the two other third years.

“Well, Yakkun, not all of us are confident in our receives as you,” defends Kuroo.

“Then get more confident!”

That statement only elicits a small laugh from Kai while Kuroo rolls his eyes.

“Yaku-san!” calls Lev from the front, “Do you need help walking home?”

“Huh? What are you talking about Lev?”  
  


Shibayama pipes up, “He’s right! You can barely walk right now, Yaku-san, you can’t just go home by yourself.”

“Wait- wait what?”

“You walk us home a lot. Why can’t we indulge you for once?”

“Yeah!”

The short debate was settled when Yaku tried to get Kai to back him up, to which Kai answered with his serene smiles, “No.”

(They don’t talk about how Kuroo treats the team to ramen, about how Lev walks a little slower so the rest could catch up, about how Fukunaga would sometimes pause to check on Yaku’s ankle, and about how Shibayama’s face fell into concern when Kai opens Yaku’s front door to an empty house. They don’t talk about it. They don’t have to).


	2. this house is not a home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an elaboration on the last 'they don't talk about...'

Yaku Morisuke hates being home alone. It’s the reason why he took to walking his friends home to spend as much as time possible away.

He savoured those extra minutes after practice or studies. Morisuke liked to alternate between the people he walked home with. If he wanted some fun, he’d walk with Watanabe from class 3-3 who was a mutual friend of his. If he wanted to talk about schoolwork, he’d talk to Yamazaki from class 3-5 who was the student council president then. And if he wanted volleyball talk, there was Hasegawa, the volleyball captain.

The routine continued on in high school, with his first year alternating between Kuroo and Kai as fellow volleyball players or maybe a friend or two from his class. He supposed the ‘aggressively caring demon-senpai’ joke made by Kuroo was inspired by an incident that happened in their first year.

After telling Kuroo off for practicing late at night with an underclassman, the trio walked down the road, Morisuke walking them home. He was later than what he usually was but that was good. It was even better when Kuroo’s friend’s stomach grumbled just in front of a ramen store. Checking his wallet if he had saved enough money, he treated them out for dinner, extending his time outside.

Thankfully his dad was yet to arrive home when Morisuke opened the door. The libero didn’t bother calling out, “I’m home.” No one should be answering that.

Quickly, he started cooking dinner. Checking the time and available ingredients, he decided to make some Yakimeshi. His dad never complained about the food he made anyway. By the time Yaku plated up the food, his dad arrived. 

“Otou-san,” Morisuke greeted, passing a bowl of fried rice to him, “Welcome back.”

Morisuke’s dad was not a man of many words, Morisuke could understand that. They don’t talk during dinner, safe for the greetings and exchange of important information (Morisuke had stopped telling him his game times a long time ago, his dad never comes anyway).

“You just arrived from practice,” he states, “and you’re not eating dinner.” It was not a question, but Morisuke knew he wanted an answer.

“I walked some friends home, had some ramen.”

His dad nods, accepting it, “You walk your friends home a lot. You shouldn’t be out so late.”

That statement made his stomach queasy.

Another instance of being ‘aggressively caring’ he remembered quite clearly was when Kai was sick. Persuading him to go home was easy enough, Kai didn’t like confrontations, and it wasn’t a lie that their houses were close. Distance was subjective anyway.

Once they arrived at Kai’s house, Morisuke told him to sleep immediately, leading the wing spiker to his bedroom. After tucking him in to bed, Morisuke invited himself to Kai’s kitchen. Checking the cupboards and refrigerator, he had enough ingredients to make chicken soup.

Morisuke had much experience with taking care of sick people. His mother wasn’t the healthiest of people. The young libero chopped the carrots, onions and celery; he hoped that Kai wouldn’t mind Morisuke using the leftover chicken. His phone ringed with a notification; he ignored it.

Forty minutes later, the finished soup was on the dining table a handwritten note next to it. Kai said he had medicine somewhere, Morisuke felt uncomfortable poking around more, he left that to Kai. (That didn’t mean Morisuke wouldn’t check on Kai for the next two days after school, fever medicine at hand).

The first time Morisuke’s dad was mad at him was when the second-year libero came home with bruised knuckles and red cheek.

“From now on, you go home immediately.”

Morisuke didn’t have the courage to say no to that.

Yaku Morisuke hates being home alone. 

There’s a glass cupboard in the living room filled with framed pictures of his family (back when it was the three of them). On the kitchen fridge, stuck to it by magnet, were old notes and drawings by him when he was five (one was a family drawing). Morisuke takes out the medicine kit he brings everyday to school and puts it back in the bathroom cupboard (he never takes out the antidepressants).

Yaku Morisuke hates being home alone. 

There’s three more hours before his dad comes home. Three more hours of solitude, three more hours of nothing. Morisuke takes a hot bath, it’s been so long since he had one. Drying his hair with his towel, he checks the clock. Two hours and forty minutes left.

Morisuke finds himself laying on his bed, staring at his wall. The quietness of his house was eating him alive. He misses the idle chatter with Kai, the useless banters with Kuroo, the talks with the first years. His hands finds his bundle of tangled up earphones, plugs it into his phone and picks a song.

Loneliness. Morisuke hated being lonely. It’s void of anything but the hollow screams. Loneliness is deafening in the most noiseless way possible. It is monster that chokes and gnaws inside you, that breaks and breaks you down slowly, that holds you down, quietly. He wants to scream; he lets the music fill the ever growing void.

There are tear stains in his pillow. There are nail marks in his palm. It’s nearly ten o’clock, Morisuke prepares dinner.

He breaks the rule once the new year starts. The third years graduate, Kuroo and Kai are named captain and vice-captain respectively, and Morisuke is officially crowned the ‘demon senpai’. His first walk with the first years was when Lev asks for his help to find his cat. Technically, he didn’t, but it was implied. Morisuke doesn’t bother to tell his dad, he won’t be home till late anyway.

He gets home just an hour and a half before ten o’clock. Another twenty minute bath, ten minutes to finish the homework he had started during lunch break and an hour to cook dinner. Morisuke liked times like this. Where he was too busy to acknowledge the loneliness; too busy to look at the pictures, too busy to look at the jars of pills, too busy. It feels unbelievably freeing.

Shibayama Yuuki was a sweet boy. He was no doubt Morisuke’s favourite kouhai. Maybe that was why the older libero was a bit kinder to him when reprimanding the younger for extra practice. He took him out for meat buns and for a snack shopping spree for the team. It’s been a while since Morisuke ate meat buns. Maybe he’ll find his mother’s old recipe in the kitchen, he missed eating homemade.

Opening the door, Morisuke’s surprised to see his dad already there, leftover soup already heated with a plate of hot rice ready.

They don’t talk. They don’t need to.

\---

Yaku Morisuke hates being home alone. It’s the reason why he took to walking his friends home to spend as much as time possible away.

That’s why he makes sure to keep himself in perfect health to let him stay outside for as long as possible.

_Why did he have to twist his ankle?_

Kuroo sets Morisuke on the couch, straightens his legs and goes to make a makeshift ice compressor. Kai makes his way to the kitchen and goes to cook dinner. Shibayama, Haiba, Inuoka and Teshiro go to find ways to make the older comfortable; pillows and blankets are thrown over him. Kenma goes with Kuroo and soon they are back, the captain applying pressure to the ankle with ice. Yamamoto helps Kai with the food, soon the delicious smell of stir-fried vegetables waft into the living room from the kitchen. Fukunaga turns the television on, changing channels until it’s on Washoku World Challenge.

Yaku Morisuke hates being home alone.

But, he likes times like this. Where he was too busy to acknowledge the loneliness; too busy to look at the pictures, too busy to look at the jars of pills, too busy. 

He likes times like this. When Kai and Yamamoto sets the food down on the coffee table, snacks at the center. When Kuroo sets on the other end of the couch, hand on the ice compressor.

He likes times like this. When Kenma sits himself on the armchair, nintendo switch already out and eyes darting from his game and the television screen. When Fukunaga sits down on the other armchair, Kai making himself comfortable on the floor below him.

He likes times like this. When Haiba’s quiet and focused on the cooking show. When Shibayama and Teshiro make comments on each contestant. When Inuoka ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ at the different cuisine.

Yaku Morisuke hates being home alone. 

But he loves, loves, _loves_ his teammates.

He loves them so much that it hurts, tears are pricking his eyes, his nails dig deeper into his palm. These were his teammates, his friends, his _family_. He’s never felt this much warmth, and kindness, and love and it aches to love back.

Walking his friends home had been a way Morisuke could avoid his own, but with them? He was just happy he could help them feel the comfort he himself never had. Morisuke knew he wasn’t the best ‘team mother’. Hell, he didn’t have a mother for most of his life. But, being their ‘demon senpai’, their team mom. That was more than he could ever wish.

(Yaku doesn't talk about a lot of things, despite his blunt attitude. He doesn't talk about a lot of things, mostly because he doesn't have to. Nekoma knows, they understand).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay to be honest, I was not planning for the ending to the first chapter to be angsty?? But then I asked myself why Yaku's parents aren't telling him off about going home late then I made myself sad and wrote a bit of angst. So now, I write more angst!
> 
> I contemplated making Yaku's parents abusive but that hurts a bit close to home so I decided against it, because parents don't have to be fully abusive to be bad parents. Or are parents who you can't trust to confide in already abusive? I don;t know man.
> 
> Drop a comment/kudos if you enjoyed it please they bring me joy 🥺 🥺 
> 
> catch me on twitter: @XeepZorg

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i just really really like nekoma and gen fics really
> 
> you can find me on twitter @XeepZorg


End file.
